Crimea’s local parliament voted unanimously to join Russia and announced a regional referendum in the Ukraine peninsula to decide the matter March 16, moves that have intensified the worst post-Cold War crisis between Moscow and the West.

NATO, using some of its strongest language yet, publicly assured Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister that it stands by the “territorial integrity” of his country.

WATCH

The United States also deployed six more jets to patrol Baltic states that are increasingly nervous about the invasion of Crimea, home to an ethnic Russian majority and now effectively under Russia’s control.

High-stakes diplomatic efforts continued, although with little sign of easing international tensions or allaying fears of a breakup of Ukraine. Later Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone for an hour with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was their second extended conversation about Ukraine in six days.

Separately, as part of its protest against Moscow’s seizure of Crimea, Canada expelled nine Russian soldiers taking part in military exercises in this country.

A source said one Russian soldier was located in Gatineau, Que., two were at
Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick and six were in Saint-Jean,
Que.

The White House, in a statement, said Mr. Obama urged Mr. Putin to send
Russian troops back to their bases in Crimea, allow international monitors in to
ensure the rights of ethnic Russians are respected and consent to direct talks
with Ukrainian officials. There was no word on Mr. Putin’s response.

The U.S., Canada and the EU rejected the Crimean referendum as illegitimate,
saying no ballot can have validity while Russia is occupying Crimea with a
military force. Mr. Obama said the ballot “would violate the constitution and
violate international law.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Crimea is under “illegal military
occupation,” termed Russia’s invasion of the peninsula as an act of aggression,
and said Canada will not recognize the upcoming referendum.

The Prime Minister says he views the situation in Ukraine “with the gravest
concern” and will co-operate with its G7 partners and like-minded allies.

Another dozen U.S. warplanes, meanwhile, will arrive for a training exercise
in Poland next week as former Soviet satellite states grow ever more worried
about Moscow’s territorial ambitions. The U.S. Navy also said a guided-missile
destroyer, the USS Truxton, is heading to the Black Sea in what it said was a
long-planned training exercise and not a show of force. This would put the
warship in close proximity to Crimea.

“Russia today is dangerous,” Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told
journalists at an emergency summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. “After
Ukraine will be Moldova, and after Moldova will be different countries. They are
trying to rewrite the borders after the Second World War in Europe.”

A senior U.S. official, speaking on background, said the Baltic overflights
and reinforcement of U.S. military operations in Poland are meant to “reassure
our Eastern European allies that at this very delicate and potentially
destabilizing time, the United States is strongly committed to their
security.”

The separatist push by pro-Moscow forces in Crimea, where Russia’s Black Sea
fleet has been based since 1783, came as European leaders tried to find ways to
unwind the crisis that has escalated since pro-Western opposition forces ousted
Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine’s president last month. Mr. Putin then moved
military forces to Crimea in what he has termed a “humanitarian” mission to
protect ethnic Russians in the eastern part of the country.

Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk rejected the Crimea
referendum announcement, calling the regional lawmakers merely a “so-called
government” and urging Mr. Putin to end support for the separatists. “Tear down
this wall, the wall of intimidation, of military aggression,” he said in
Brussels, following talks with EU leaders. “We are ready for co-operation, but
we are not ready to surrender and be the subordinate of Russia.”

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, standing beside Mr. Yatsenyuk,
called Russian aggression in Crimea “the gravest threat to European security
since the end of the Cold War” and warned Moscow against claiming Crimea. “There
should be no attempt to draw new lines on the map of Europe in the 21st
century,” Mr. Rasmussen said.

EU leaders, divided on how to respond, agreed to suspend talks with Moscow on
visas and a new investment pact while warning of tougher action if there is no
negotiated solution within a short period. Mr. Obama, however, issued an
executive order slapping new visa restrictions on Russian and other opponents of
Ukraine’s interim government. A U.S. official said Mr. Putin was not on the list
of those to be sanctioned.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported the Russian military is
conducting drills involving more than 3,500 troops at its southern testing range
of Kapustin Yar, about 450 kilometres east of the Ukrainian border. In Crimea,
Russian and pro-Russia militias have blockaded or seized all Ukrainian military
facilities. The city council of Crimea’s port city of Sevastopol, home to a
sprawling Russian naval base, followed the Crimean regional parliament in voting
Thursday to join Russia and break all links with Ukraine.